U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,985 and U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 694,005 filed June 8, 1976, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,660, each discloses a machine for roughing the margin of an upper of a shoe assembly, the shoe assembly comprising a last having an insole located on its bottom and the upper mounted thereon with the upper margin lying against and being secured to the bottom of the insole. The machine includes: a shoe assembly support for supporting the shoe assembly bottom up; a margin sensor engageable with the upper margin; a side sensor, located below the margin sensor, engageable with the side of the shoe assembly; a roughing tool located inwardly of the side sensor and proximate to the margin sensor and engageable with the upper margin to rough the upper margin; means mounting both sensors and the roughing tool for unitary heightwise movement; and means mounting both sensors and the roughing tool for unitary inward-outward movement (movement towards and away from the shoe assembly) in a particular direction. The machine incorporates means for so moving the support as to move succeeding upper margin portions past the margin sensor and as to move corresponding succeeding side portions of the shoe assembly past the side sensor to thereby move the upper margin portions past the roughing tool. The machine also incorporates means enabling the margin sensor to move heightwise and follow the contour of the upper margin portions to thereby enable the roughing tool to move heightwise accordingly and means enabling the side sensor to move inwardly-outwardly in said particular direction and follow the contour of the shoe assembly side portions to thereby enable the roughing tool to move inwardly-outwardly accordingly.
It is desirable, in order for the roughing tool to engage all portions of the upper margin uniform distances inwardly of the outer peripheries of the margin portions, that a line extending from the area of engagement of the roughing tool with each margin portion along the surface of the margin portion to the outer periphery of the margin portion towards the area of engagement of the side sensor with the corresponding portion of the side of the shoe assembly be substantially parallel to said particular direction of unitary inward-outward movement of the sensors and the roughing tool. If a margin portion is so contoured that this line is sloped downwardly with respect to said particular direction as it extends outwardly from the area of engagement of the roughing tool with the upper margin towards the outer periphery of the margin portion, the roughing tool will, undesirably, engage the margin portion further inwardly of its outer periphery than is the case when said line is parallel to said particular direction.
The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved arrangement for ensuring that each margin portion is so positioned as it passes the sensors and the roughing tool that said line is substantially parallel to said particular direction regardless of any changes in the planes in which succeeding margin portions lie. This object is achieved by providing: means mounting the support for rocking movement between a first position and a second position; and means, effective during the support movement, for rocking the support from its first position to its second position.
Dealing with a first species of the invention, the heel and forepart portions of the shoe assembly bottom lie in intersecting planes. In each of the above referred to prior art machines, the means for so moving the support as to move the margin portions past the roughing tool comprises: means for so rotating the support 180.degree. about a vertical axis in a particular rotational direction as to rotate a first end of the upper margin, disclosed as the heel end, past the roughing tool; means for thereafter so horizontally moving the support linearly as to move a side of the upper margin past the roughing tool; and means for thereafter so rotating the support 180.degree. about said vertical axis in the same rotational direction as to rotate the second end, disclosed as the toe end, of the upper margin past the roughing tool. The particular direction of inward-outward movement of the sensors and the roughing tool is substantially horizontal. The shoe assembly is so supported that the first end of the shoe assembly bottom lies in a substantially horizontal plane during its rotation so that the desired relationship between said line along each margin portion and said particular direction is maintained during this rotation. However, in the prior art machine the shoe assembly is so supported that the second end lies in a plane that is inclined upwardly in a direction extending from the second end (the toe end) towards the first end (the heel end). Therefore, during the rotation of the second end of the shoe assembly the desired relationship between said line and said direction is not maintained in the prior art machine. In order to overcome this deficiency and in accordance with the first species of the invention, the prior art machine is improved by mounting the support for rocking movement about a horizontal axis that is transverse to the direction of linear movement of the support and by rocking the support from its first position to its second position by triggering means actuable pursuant to the linear movement of the support to thereby cause the second end of the shoe assembly bottom to lie in a substantially horizontal plane during the second 180.degree. rotation of the support.
Dealing with a second species of the invention, certain shoe assembly bottoms are arched upwardly convex in planes that are transverse to the longitudinal heel-toe axis of the shoe assembly so that the upper margin tapers downwardly to a great extent towards the side of the shoe assembly, this condition existing particularly in the forepart area of the shoe assembly bottom. In the above referred to prior art machines, the means for so moving the support as to move the upper margin portions past the roughing tool comprises: means for so horizontally moving the support linearly in a first direction as to move a first side of the upper margin past the roughing tool; means for thereafter so rotating the support 180.degree. about a vertical axis as to rotate an end of the upper margin past the roughing tool; and means for thereafter so horizontally moving the support linearly in a second direction opposite to said first direction as to move the second side of the upper margin past the roughing tool. As aforesaid, the direction of inward-outward movement of the sensors and the roughing tool in each prior art machine is substantially horizontal. When the prior art machine operates on a shoe assembly having the upwardly convex sections and the shoe assembly is so supported that said lines along the margin portions on one side of the shoe assembly are substantially parallel to said particular direction, the lines along the margin portions on the other side of the shoe assembly will not be parallel to said particular direction. In order to overcome this deficiency and in accordance with the second species of the invention, the prior art machine has the improvements wherein: the means mounting the support is so constructed as to enable the support to be rocked through an upwardly concave arc whose center of curvature lies on a horizontal axis that is parallel to the directions of linear movements of the support; the first position of the support is such that the support is tilted about this horizontal axis on one side of the vertical axis of the support; the second position of the support is such that the support is tilted about this horizontal axis on the other side of the vertical axis of the support; and the support is rocked from its first position to its second position by triggering means that are actuable pursuant to the support rotation.